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As a smaller housing association, specialising in care and support, we place great emphasis on ensuring that the properties we have and the support we provide meets your needs and those of future tenants.

We hope you find the information below useful. If you have any other queries about the services we provide and your tenancy, please contact your Housing Officer or get in touch with us on the contact details below.

Housing Management Team

Our Housing Management Team is based at Southdown’s Lewes Office and includes a Housing and Property Services Manager, a Housing Manager, four Housing Officers, a Support Living Partnership Officer a Housing Assistant and an Administrator.

All Southdown tenants have a dedicated Housing Officer who oversees and provides support to maintain their tenancy. This includes overseeing tenancy sign–ups, rent collection and arrears monitoring, anti-social behaviour and any legal issues.

Paying rent and rent statements

There are a number of ways available for tenants to pay rent to Southdown: Direct Debit or Standing Order, rent payment cards, cash or online.

Tenants who have been issued with a rent payment card can also make payments online at www.allpayments.net. You will need to enter your rent payment card number, password, debit card number and amount you want to pay. Your rent account is credited within 24 hours. The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Individual Rent Statements are issued quarterly and sent to each tenant's address. Please speak to your Housing Officer or Floating Support Officer if you would like help reading and understanding your Rent Statement.

If you are having difficulty paying your rent, please let your Housing Officer know as soon as possible. Your Housing Officer can set up a repayment plan and put you in touch with specialist advisors who can provide Welfare Benefit checks, debt advice and budgeting help.

Tenant Handbook

We want you to be happy in your new home and have the right amount of support you need. Our Tenant Handbook will help you to understand your tenancy and inform you of all the things we will do and what you need to do as a tenant. You can download a copy of the handbook below.

Specialist help to address issues such as hoarding, money management, anti-social behaviour or other issues affecting your tenancy .A review of your Welfare Benefits and help navigating the benefits system

Practical help to set up and use e-mail accounts, and use the internet safely

Assistance to access local charitable funds and to secure furniture from partner charities in your local area

Your Housing Officer can refer you to the Tenancy Sustainment Service or you can ask to be referred by contacting Southdown’s Housing Management team on 01273 405 800.

Our Tenant Charter (what you can expect from us)

Housing Officers: We will provide a named Housing Officer for all tenants to raise issues with and liaise around tenancy issues in addition to any other support tenants receive from us.

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB): We will respond promptly to all reports of ASB. Serious abuse or threats of abuse with violence including domestic abuse, hate crime, sexual offences, assault, arson, gang crime or weapons will be responded to within 24 hours. Other causes of ASB will be responded to within 5 working days. We offer home visits to all tenants making complaints and communicate what action we are taking to help resolve the issue.

Shared Ownership: We will offer an annual visit from the named Housing Revenue Officer following the issue of the service charge statements. We will include all shared owners in regular organisational updates from us.

Tenant Involvement: Tenants will be provided with twice yearly, themed, tenant focus groups and an annual tenant survey to provide feedback on how we have performed.

Property Inspections: Tenants will be notified of inspections of common areas and provided with opportunities to attend or provide feedback regarding concerns they have regarding individual flats or the communal areas of the property.

Carpets and Curtains: We will provide carpets and curtains as standard in all properties that we let at the point of move-in.

Post Work Inspections: Southdown will post-inspect at least 15% of day-to-day maintenance jobs raised and 100% of major, cyclical and planned works to ensure our tenants are getting a good quality maintenance service.

Repairs: Tenants will be offered three choices of appointment times for repairs.

24 Helpline for Properties: Where we are responsible for repairs, we will provide a free out-of-hours emergency helpline for tenants needing to report emergency or urgent repairs outside normal working hours.

Southdown is an exempt charity registered with the Regulator of Social Housing (L1829) and committed to the National Housing Federation’s code of governance. Southdown is also a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefits Societies Act 2014 (20755R). Terms of Use